ECNL Playoff Standouts: Best 07s from Round of 16

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The ECNL National Playoffs in the 2007 age group had their Round of 16 games on Thursday. The winners sealed a spot in the quarterfinals in Richmond, Virginia in July.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The competition was fierce with every mistake being put under a microscope as many of the games came down to the wire. Three of the eight games ended in a penalty kick shootout.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Below are individual standouts from the games PrepSoccer saw on Thursday. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='19178' first='Ayva' last='Jordan'], Slammers Koge 07 - Jordan drew a penalty kick and scored from the spot in the second half of the win over Phoenix Rising. The talented winger who has been highlighted before for her standout play at this event, continues to string together noteworthy moments from game to game even though she is a focal point of the opposition's defense. Jordan&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='33364' first='Mary' last='Long'], Slammers Koge 07 - Long scored early on in the second half as she got on the end of a cross for the cool finish.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='62477' first='Maya' last='Woolforde'], Slammers Koge 07 - Woolforde came alive as the space in the game opened up in the second half with a pair of goals.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='150916' first='Victoria' last='Bloch'], Slammers FC 07 - Bloch is not on the Slammers roster for the event, but I believe she is the one wearing No. 18 for the squad. She didn't start on Thursday, but she made an impact immediately. The defender was outstanding against Jacksonville on Tuesday as she shut down a number of attacks with her tough tackling and smart positioning. She was equally as good on Thursday as she did well in the duels against one of the best attacking talents from the event. [player_tooltip player_id='82459' first='Sienna' last='McAthy'] and [player_tooltip player_id='19112' first='Ariana' last='Markey'] were also standouts for Slammers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='33425' first='Aubrey' last='Haesche'], World Class FC 07 - Haesche was excellent in the first half against Slammers. She made the right reads on when to come off her line most of the time. She made a couple of good saves, and did well in clearing the danger on crosses.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='25314' first='Molly' last='Shepherd'], OK Energy 07 - The OK Energy center back had a near perfect outing in the first half against Crossfire. She did well at reading the game and stepping in front of the forward to intercept entry passes. When the pass was sent in behind her, she used her body well to shield the attacker off the ball. In possession, her passing was accurate and hit with pace.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='24148' first='Lyla' last='Geller'], World Class FC 07 - Geller continued her impressive run with another strong performance on Thursday. She had a couple of runs at the Slammers stout defense on Thursday. She was one of the few players to get past a defender while playing against Slammers. Her quick movement and close control make it a tough winger to stop if you give her any space.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='27124' first='Natalie' last='Wagner'], DKSC 07 - Wagner and the DKSC wingers continued to show how electric they are in the victory over MVLA. Wagner's pace created issues late in the game as she punished the opposition for pushing numbers forward. [player_tooltip player_id='26938' first='Kyla' last='Dawn'] was dynamic in the attack too for DKSC.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='19108' first='Anya' last='Lin'], MVLA 07 - Lin provided the assist on MVLA's late goal in the loss to DKSC. It was an excellent pass that floated over the defense and found a teammate wide open at the far post. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='25173' first='Emery' last='Aschenbrener'], Internationals 07 - Aschenbrener scored one of the goals of the event with the game-winner against SUSA on Thursday. The winger buried the free kick into the upper corner of the net for the lone goal of the game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/EmeryAsch2/status/1674565740253564930","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/EmeryAsch2/status/1674565740253564930 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='33355' first='Molly' last='Vapensky'], Solar 07 - Vapensky made an outstanding save on a penalty kick in the shootout to help her team clinch a spot in the quarterfinals in Virginia next month.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/MollyVapensky/status/1674481044219920384","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/MollyVapensky/status/1674481044219920384 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->